Angry Birds movie moving forward under former Marvel Studios chairman

A movie based on the Angry Birds games is not only in the works, but developer Rovio has hired the executive producer of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and many of the recent Marvel Studios movies to head up the project.

In an interview with BBC, Rovio’s North American general manager Andrew Stalbow not only confirmed that the Angry Birds is moving forward, but also revealed their prominent new hire.

“We recently hired David Maisel, former Chairman of Marvel Studios who produced Iron Man, to lead our movie efforts,” said Stalbow.

According to Stalbow, the company is aiming to create a “next generation media company,” with the hire of Maisel, plans for an Angry Birds movie, and the recent purchase of an animation studio in Helsinki all contributing to their goals outside the gaming world. The animation studio is currently working on a series of short films that the company plans to release next year.

Recently valued at nearly $1.2 billion, Rovio also claims that Angry Birds has been downloaded 400 million times since it was released in 2009.